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Topic Summary

Posted by: torch

Posted on: May 23rd, 2017, 6:21am

I had an idea for a thread,guys but i wanted to clear it with y'all before proceeding, hear me out: I have a book of train consist notes of E&N trains in and around victoria from spring 1990 into 1992. I feel that historically they might bear some interest as around that time on the vic sub there was still an interesting variety of traffic and as my notes reveal there seemed to be a noticeable increase in freight on the vic sub for a short time during 90-91. I figured i could share some of these mundane 'gems' and perhaps some of you can add your two cents or your own recollections/notes of consists from that era. One thing though, i didn't always write down the unit numbers but I did at least write down the unit models plus car descriptions, unusual movements, etc. You game? thanks.

Posted by: MinionII

Posted on: May 23rd, 2017, 1:06pm

Post it.

Traffic on the forum is depressingly low.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: May 23rd, 2017, 8:35pm

kinda feels silly but here goes my first excerpt: May 1st, 1990, Nortbound freight through Langford ran through late at six pm. I didn't specifically detail the consist but its was a gp38 leading a gp35, a couple of gov canada hoppers,three boxcars,a few propane tankers and the rest of the train was comprised of military vehicles on flats followed by caboose. One of the boxcar's reporting marks was LRWN... little rock and western railroad.

Any more info from that bygone era is very welcome indeed.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: May 23rd, 2017, 11:22pm

Nice thread, Torch, those were the last interesting years on the Victoria end of the line.

Any more info from that bygone era is very welcome indeed.

Thank you, Jamie. I have a whole lot more and believe me it does get a bit more interesting up until 92 when things drastically slow down and the caboose is gone. It really seemed things were picking up for awhile back then and as you will see in my upcoming reports some trains grew to the length of 18 to 20 cars during 90-91, not including the military movements.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: May 24th, 2017, 12:52am

Tuesday ,may 22, 1990: Southbound freight at Langford... i didn't write the time down but it was usually more or less between 9:30 to 10 anyhow. Gp38, gp35, milwaukee road hopper, red 40 foot CP box, a few propane tankers, three more red 40 foot CP boxcars lettered for E&N, gov canada hopper, 50 foot green CP box and center cupola caboose. Switched IGC propane and left with same amount of cars to Victoria.

Posted by: hillbank

Posted on: May 24th, 2017, 12:58am

good call Torch, i remember at the time there seemed to be longer trains for awhile and more single loads like bricks or pipe on bulkhead flats and my favorite a boat on a CN flatcar. Did you remember when the drilling mud came down for the rig?

Posted by: torch

Posted on: May 24th, 2017, 2:15am

good call Torch, i remember at the time there seemed to be longer trains for awhile and more single loads like bricks or pipe on bulkhead flats and my favorite a boat on a CN flatcar. Did you remember when the drilling mud came down for the rig?

Hi, Hillbank.. I sure remember some of the odd loads including marine bouys, PVC and bricks.. I am unsure about the drilling mud. What type of car was that shipped in? I have some notes i will post upcoming about several unknown loads arriving in pressure differential hoppers that happened over the span of one week but im pretty sure those are for lighter weight dry loads.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: May 24th, 2017, 2:23am

Sunday, May 27, 1990. Unusual southbound at Langford. Caboose hop. No freight cars. Gp38 and gp35 for power. Also of note; ICG propane in Langford never received Sunday service yet at this point. This was to change soon .

Posted by: torch

Posted on: May 24th, 2017, 2:45am

Wed,May 29, 1990 : Northbound at Langford,10:30 am. gp35,gp38-2, 40 ft E&N box with plug and sliding door, 40 ft orange insulated CP box, 2 propane cars and the 40 ft red CP box and canada hopper from the previous night's southbound. A detail I left out of the observation from the previous night is that the red 40 CP box appeared to have grain doors installed (broken through) ,main door partially open. and I gathered by seeing it go back up on this day along with the hopper that it mustve been an empty that had been unloaded at either buckerfields or top shelf. I had seen red cp boxes at buckerfields before although I do realize it was a little late in the game for grain to be shipped in 40 ft boxes. I know some grain in this era was still shipped in boxes from low density prarrie branchlines that could not support the weight of bigger,newer hoppers. Who knows what it was this time though, I'm just going by my notes and memory.

Posted by: Goose5

Posted on: May 24th, 2017, 5:20pm

Interesting information. Thanks for posting Torch. At this time the E&N was bringing hoppers to Victoria to interchange with CN serving Borden Mercantile and the Store St. trackage still served 2 customers.

Dave

Posted by: torch

Posted on: May 24th, 2017, 9:09pm

Interesting information. Thanks for posting Torch. At this time the E&N was bringing hoppers to Victoria to interchange with CN serving Borden Mercantile and the Store St. trackage still served 2 customers.

Dave

yes sir! i remember well because I went down to the vic west yard and saw borden trucks unloading hoppers on the run around track.. This was just before I had started taking these notes. I saw elsewhere on the forum some photos that showed it too.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: May 24th, 2017, 9:22pm

Friday,June 9, 1990: Northbound at Langford, 10:30 am. Gp35, Gp35 , Gp38 , 50 ft Red CP box with combi door, 2 propane cars, canada hopper , two Thrall ALL DOOR canfor boxcars and caboose. This was the first time in a few years since I had seen all door boxcars on the vic sub. The last time before that was around early 1988 when I watched a Northbound perform a flying switch dropping off an all door box into Van isle Mouldings,which was the mill in Langford beside ICG propane which burned down the next year.

Posted by: ENR3005

Posted on: May 24th, 2017, 11:21pm

I had an idea for a thread,guys but i wanted to clear it with y'all before proceeding, hear me out: I have a book of train consist notes of E&N trains in and around victoria from spring 1990 into 1992. I feel that historically they might bear some interest as around that time on the vic sub there was still an interesting variety of traffic and as my notes reveal there seemed to be a noticeable increase in freight on the vic sub for a short time during 90-91. I figured i could share some of these mundane 'gems' and perhaps some of you can add your two cents or your own recollections/notes of consists from that era. One thing though, i didn't always write down the unit numbers but I did at least write down the unit models plus car descriptions, unusual movements, etc. You game? thanks.

Thanks for doing this, hopefully more of us did this and will share. Never got to see much on the south end of the Victoria Sub and a most interesting read. I hope you don't mind me adding a few that I will dig out. Not living on the island at that time makes my list a lot shorter and limited to my holiday visits.

Posted by: ENR3005

Posted on: May 24th, 2017, 11:30pm

Tuesday December 22, 1992, Northbound Parksville Turn and Courtenay Turn, approximately 7:00am (amazing how fast the sound of a GP38 blowing for the crossings in Nanoose Bay could get a teenager out of bed and sprinting for the tracks three miles away) adjacent to National Silicates, GP38ACs 30##, 3012, 3000, 5 cars, 1 Railbox boxcar (dynamite ?), 2 Procor Cylindrical hoppers (for National Silicates) and 2 LPG tank cars for ICG in Courtenay.

Awesome,bro. These are great. keep em coming! I find that end interesting for the same reason too..that I wasnt able to be in those parts often to document.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: May 25th, 2017, 3:24am

Sunday, June 10,1990: Southbound at Langford... I did not write the time of arrival down. Gp35, Gp38ac, CN cylindrical hopper, 3 propane cars, 60 ft CP bulkhead flat loaded with PVC pipe, 50 ft orange insulated CP boxcar, 50 ft brown ribside box with CP marks and caboose. This night marked the night that ICG propane in Langford started receiving sunday service as well. This may or may not have happened in the past occasionally but as a Langford resident I had never seen it done in the previous years.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: May 25th, 2017, 3:29am

Monday, June 11, 1990: Northbound freight at Jacklin road ,Langford. Gp35, Gp38ac, five 50 ft grey NAHX pressure differential hopper cars, five propane cars, grey CN hopper and caboose. No boxcars on this one. I had written down that I was very surprised to see the nahx PD hoppers as that was a rarity on the south end and I am not sure to this day what they were bringing or leaving with. I do know that dry cement is often hauled in these as evidenced by the current day transload at Welcox yard but there was no cement customer in Victoria at the time served by rail . In the days to come i witnessed more as I will note in the next posts.

I was always interested in those munitions shipments... kind of reminiscent of the ones CN used to carry on the south end of the Cowichan sub to rocky point before my time. The E&N carried on with these well into the 90s, did they not?

Posted by: hillbank

Posted on: May 26th, 2017, 1:59am

Hey Torch, i do remember seeing boxcars spotted either at Buckley bay or the pole spur in Royston in the early 90's, you mentioned boxcars from the feed mills in Duncan, both Top Shelf and Buckerfields were still getting the odd boxcar of bagged products such as beet pulp, dog food etc, most of the cars would be 40 foot orange CP or the old brown Canadian Pacific Railway block letter style with the newsprint service logo on it. Regarding the grey NAHX pressure hoppers, i was told by an E&N crew one day that this was drilling mud for the Oil rig that was in Esquimalt Drydock for a refit, that day thier train had 11 of these on a 18 car train with three units going through Cobble Hill. I am wondering if the cab hop you saw in Langford was the same train i saw leave the outfit cars at Cobble Hill? this train left a few hoppers for Duncan then filled the Cobble Hill siding with the tie gang cars then cab hopped south. A few other loads i saw go by heading south through Cobble Hill on diffirent trains stick in my mind, a large propeler on a B.C rail bulkhead, a cherry picker on a CP flatcar, a large crane and rigging on three flatcars one BN green one NP brown and one GN skyblue, a load of steel on a NYC flatcar,a beat up Conrail gondola and of course the transformers on the depressed center flatcars. Also saw several times one or two Mac and Blo thrall doors that would come back North the next day, Chemainus mill spur was not in use so this makes me think the crews were using these for idler cars. One question i have, i saw several times Georgia Pacific boxcars on Victoria turns, do you know who recieved them and what the product was?

Posted by: torch

Posted on: May 26th, 2017, 3:25am

Hey Torch, i do remember seeing boxcars spotted either at Buckley bay or the pole spur in Royston in the early 90's, you mentioned boxcars from the feed mills in Duncan, both Top Shelf and Buckerfields were still getting the odd boxcar of bagged products such as beet pulp, dog food etc, most of the cars would be 40 foot orange CP or the old brown Canadian Pacific Railway block letter style with the newsprint service logo on it. Regarding the grey NAHX pressure hoppers, i was told by an E&N crew one day that this was drilling mud for the Oil rig that was in Esquimalt Drydock for a refit, that day thier train had 11 of these on a 18 car train with three units going through Cobble Hill. I am wondering if the cab hop you saw in Langford was the same train i saw leave the outfit cars at Cobble Hill? this train left a few hoppers for Duncan then filled the Cobble Hill siding with the tie gang cars then cab hopped south. A few other loads i saw go by heading south through Cobble Hill on diffirent trains stick in my mind, a large propeler on a B.C rail bulkhead, a cherry picker on a CP flatcar, a large crane and rigging on three flatcars one BN green one NP brown and one GN skyblue, a load of steel on a NYC flatcar,a beat up Conrail gondola and of course the transformers on the depressed center flatcars. Also saw several times one or two Mac and Blo thrall doors that would come back North the next day, Chemainus mill spur was not in use so this makes me think the crews were using these for idler cars. One question i have, i saw several times Georgia Pacific boxcars on Victoria turns, do you know who recieved them and what the product was?

Oh wow,thanks Hillbank... that really clears the mystery up for me regarding the nahx hoppers. Question tough: I had gone between Langford and Vic in search of their whereabouts because they kept coming but I never found them. Are you suggesting they wouldve been left on the drydock spur? Because that would completly solve the mystery! thanks. Also happy to hear of those other odd carloads you mentioned. Off the bat I dont recall Georgia Pacific cars but i will continue to go through my notes. I do recall many other foreign roads though in 1990 such as Green Mountain railway, middletown and new jersey , lamoile valley railroad and others.

Posted by: hillbank

Posted on: May 28th, 2017, 1:40am

I was told the cars were going to Esquimalt siding, I dont know if the dockyard spur was still in service at that time. Goose may have a better idea about that. A few other bits of info for you the siding at Somenos was still fairly active at the time you were making these notes, besides the dust control tank cars a farm equipment company was recieving B.C rail and Cp bulkhead flats with farm machinery and there was also the odd flatcar of logging equipment and transformers for Hydro. Cobble Hill was used to store TOFC flats for the army trains quite often as well as the outfit cars. The Duncan Engine house track was removed in 1993, up until then there was always a water car there during the fire season, saw the Sperry car stay there overnight one time, the spur was used alot at one time for storing grain cars.

Posted by: emilydm

Posted on: May 28th, 2017, 2:05am

I remember in about 2000 when they'd freshly cleared off the dockyard spur in preparation for planned storage of the Budd cars there, I counted between 15 and 18 rings on the stumps of alder trees that had been growing between the crossties. So sometime in the mid 1980s was probably the last use of that bit of track.

Posted by: Jamie_Masters

Posted on: May 29th, 2017, 12:30am

Would these have been those NAHX hoppers that have been discussed in this thread ?

I always did wonder what was the content of those grey hoppers.

Posted by: hillbank

Posted on: May 29th, 2017, 12:56am

Yup those are the ones Jamie, thanks for sharing the pic. and thanks to Emily for the info on the Dockyard spur, a couple of questions, when the gondolas of coke used to come in to Victoria how were they unloaded? and does anyone remeber when the three CP gondolas showed up loaded with trees?

Posted on: May 29th, 2017, 1:53am

Would these have been those NAHX hoppers that have been discussed in this thread ?

I always did wonder what was the content of those grey hoppers.

yes! those were the ones i recorded!

Posted by: Destroyer_Demian

Posted on: May 29th, 2017, 5:17pm

Awesome thread guys. I had to register to post on here again because it's been a few years and I lost my login.

Torch-it's awesome you took notes during that resurgence of freight to the South Island when you did. I started following the Victoria turn almost on a weekly basis with my cousin Chris right around the time you stopped taking notes in 92. I wish I had followed it a couple years earlier because there was still a lot of freight left back then that rapidly declined in the early 90s. It seemed like the perfect dismal storm when CN left, than the CP yard switcher left Victoria and they stopped running down Store St shortly after all in a matter of a couple of years from 90-92. Regardless your notes are much appreciated and I am amazed with the amount of traffic that was still being brought in and out of Vic at that time.

hillbank-I do remember Victoria Foundries unloading coke shipments with a small excavator type machine into a dump truck. I think Chris might have posted a pic of this years back. I imagine back when the Albion yard was still around they probably would have unloaded the coke there due to it being close to their yard on Pembroke? yes I do distinctly remember the gondolas with trees! I had driven up to Duncan to meet the Southbound Victoria turn at Duncan and remember being surprised to see them in the consist. I asked the crew who they were for and they said the City of Victoria had ordered them. Lol. Cool memories. I sure miss those Victoria turns.

Just a thought about those grey hoppers. Could they have been for Lafarge Cement? They were always a longstanding CP customer. And yes the bulkheads of brick they used to periodically spot on the admirals Rd. siding were for Slegg Lumber on Admirals Rd. I watched them unload a couple one day.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: May 29th, 2017, 11:32pm

Guys, this has been great. I have many more entries to post and to Hillbank thanks for the extra info. Glad to finally clear the mystery of the nahx hoppers.. though i had gone and looked for them even near vic ply.. unfortunately i had just not looked far enough down the siding otherwise i woulve seen them. Also i definitely recall the spur in Duncan at the site of the old enginehouse and i remember often seeing a water car parked there.

Posted by: ENR3005

Posted on: Jun 5th, 2017, 3:28pm

I was always interested in those munitions shipments... kind of reminiscent of the ones CN used to carry on the south end of the Cowichan sub to rocky point before my time. The E&N carried on with these well into the 90s, did they not?

Sorry for the late reply, it looks like other members answered this and I would agree, early 90s. I thought I had a few more to post but can't seem to locate them in my collection. I will keep digging and post them when I find them.

Posted by: hillbank

Posted on: Jun 6th, 2017, 12:59am

I am wondering about outbound loads from the Victoria sub during this time, i know Vic ply was still shipping cars but did anyone notice other outbound loads?

Posted by: torch

Posted on: Jun 12th, 2017, 8:43pm

I am wondering about outbound loads from the Victoria sub during this time, i know Vic ply was still shipping cars but did anyone notice other outbound loads?

The only outbound loads from victoria that were obvious was vic ply during this period. A few year prior there was still the odd flatcar of lumber sent from CN before the Saanich spur was kaput.

Posted by: MinionII

Posted on: Jul 19th, 2017, 3:27am

Hey don't let this thread die now!

Posted by: hillbank

Posted on: Jul 24th, 2017, 1:23am

I think we are waiting for Torch to find the rest of his notes! around the same time as Torch was making these notes there was also alot of work done on the track, the B.C tie gang was over several times and ballast trains were quite common, often the work trains would return to Wellcox and the empty ballast cars would be spotted at Fiddicks pit by the Southbound Victoria turn, a number of crossings between Duncan and Nanaimo were rebuilt and several times i saw work trains that dumped ballast with air dumps while a section crew unloaded rails from flat cars at these crossings. The tie gang when working on the south end would stay at Cobble Hill as the siding was long and lots of parking for the crew trucks, i cannot remember how long the gang was in Cobble Hill but several times the Victoria turn when heading North would pick up the tank car from the outfit cars and return it a couple of days later.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: Aug 15th, 2017, 2:42am

Im back, boys! heres more continuing. Friday,June 15 , Vic west yard, northbound freight: gp38ac #3001, gp35 #5025 , two grey nahx hoppers, 40' red cp box, 3 propane cars, 50 foot brown southern double door boxcar, 50 foot orange cp ribside boxcar, government hopper, 50 foot NW gondola and caboose. I rode bicycle back toward langford after watching the northbound depart and when I was around the thetis lake overpass area I heard a horn. A southbound extra appeared , to my surprise. Two gp35s, one gp38ac , 39 empty trailertrain flat cars and cabbose. Obviously this was to set up for a northbound military train. I didnt catch the northbound military train the next day but guessing from the previous southbound that included seven trailer train flats that wouldve made the northbound military train 47 cars,including caboose!!

Green CNW hopper eh...so the green CNW hopper I got cheap from BC Shavers just because I liked it will be prototypical if I ever get around to building on E&N inspired layout

I'm happy to see you posting these again Torch.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: Aug 23rd, 2017, 6:45am

it most definitely will. I saw those hoppers on the E&N on more than one occasion too.

Posted by: hillbank

Posted on: Aug 24th, 2017, 12:54am

That CNW hopper was probably an empty from Top Shelf or Buckerfields, i saw them there quite often during this time, also noticed alot of Soo Line, Milwaukee Road, ex Rock Island, and a few times Toronto Hamilton and Buffalo, sometimes the crews would bring the empties from Duncan through to Victoria to use as idler cars and if there was no switching going North that they would have a straight run back to Welcox the next day. Thanks for posting more info Torch.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: Aug 24th, 2017, 1:59am

That CNW hopper was probably an empty from Top Shelf or Buckerfields, i saw them there quite often during this time, also noticed alot of Soo Line, Milwaukee Road, ex Rock Island, and a few times Toronto Hamilton and Buffalo, sometimes the crews would bring the empties from Duncan through to Victoria to use as idler cars and if there was no switching going North that they would have a straight run back to Welcox the next day. Thanks for posting more info Torch.

It was absolutely from top shelf or buckerfields. Was the same operating pattern that continued into the rail america era.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: Aug 29th, 2017, 7:17am

Wednesday morning, July 11, 1990, northbound at Langford. Consist: gp38ac, gp35, one black CP boxcar, forty foot red E&N boxcar, two propane cars, fifty foot black gondola (didnt see the reporting marks), fifty foot brown ribside CP boxcar, water car and caboose. By the way, for those unfamiliar with the "water car" it was an old modified canadian pacific 40 foot tank car used for spraying water on the tracks to help prevent fires caused by hot brake shoes in the summer months on the e&n. Several different types of modifed tanks had been used including some made out of old steam loco tenders. Typically I mainly saw the standard old tank car variety. These were always placed right before the caboose. Later in the 90s after caboose-less trains were the norm i would often see a hi-rail truck follow the northbound train. I didnt see the water cars in use in the late 90s on the vic sub.

Wow 7 boxcars...I wonder where they all were headed. Standard Furniture, Garden City, and Victoria Plywood I guess?

Posted by: torch

Posted on: Aug 31st, 2017, 12:41am

Wow 7 boxcars...I wonder where they all were headed. Standard Furniture, Garden City, and Victoria Plywood I guess?

At this time there was still a fair amiunt of boxcars being unloaded on the platform/ramp track in the Vic west yard in addition to the other spots you mentioned, as well as the ocassional car dropped at the Langford siding and E.H. pope.

Posted by: MinionII

Posted on: Aug 31st, 2017, 2:24am

Yeah I do recall seeing the odd boxcar at the semi-covered platform that sat beside the last coach track in the yard. If I remember correctly, the end-loading ramp was at the end of the same track. Used to see some gondolas on that track as well. Not sure how they unloaded those...

Posted by: torch

Posted on: Aug 31st, 2017, 5:34am

Yeah I do recall seeing the odd boxcar at the semi-covered platform that sat beside the last coach track in the yard. If I remember correctly, the end-loading ramp was at the end of the same track. Used to see some gondolas on that track as well. Not sure how they unloaded those...

Yes, ramp was on same track.. for loading military vehicles and whatever other miscellaneous wheeled loads there were. Ive also wondered how they unloaded the coke out of those gondolas too. Im assuming a back hoe of some sorts. For as many coke loads as i saw delivered I am surpised I never witnessed the unloading even once.

Posted by: MinionII

Posted on: Aug 31st, 2017, 12:36pm

I've seen a video of a backhoe climbing into a gondola from track level, using a combination of the loader bucket and backhoe arm/bucket and a boat load of skill, maybe they did something along those lines... Where was the floundry that coke was bound for? It wasn't VMD was it?

Posted by: torch

Posted on: Aug 31st, 2017, 11:26pm

I've seen a video of a backhoe climbing into a gondola from track level, using a combination of the loader bucket and backhoe arm/bucket and a boat load of skill, maybe they did something along those lines... Where was the floundry that coke was bound for? It wasn't VMD was it?

Based on various reports Ive heard from others over the years it was Vic foundry. Back when i was out watching these trains I just assumed it was regular coal as thats what it appeared to be to me in my uneducated observation. Ive gone back into my notes and changed that detail to coke.

Posted by: hillbank

Posted on: Sep 1st, 2017, 12:27am

Yes it was Victoria Foundry, there was a story in the T/C when they closed down, i remember most cars were either Norfolk and Western or Railgon. Do recall the water cars as well. my favorite was the script lettered Canadian Pacific, the water cars were also spotted at some locations along the E&N the old Duncan shop track and Parksville are two locations i know of. the water cars were still used on the frieghts after the caboose was dropped but not for long. before the use of the hi-rail fire patrols that followed the frieghts speeders were used and i sure miss thier unique putt putt sound.

Posted by: Dennis Dalla-Vicenza

Posted on: Oct 17th, 2017, 2:06pm

Yes it was Victoria Foundry, there was a story in the T/C when they closed down, i remember most cars were either Norfolk and Western or Railgon. Do recall the water cars as well. my favorite was the script lettered Canadian Pacific, the water cars were also spotted at some locations along the E&N the old Duncan shop track and Parksville are two locations i know of. the water cars were still used on the frieghts after the caboose was dropped but not for long. before the use of the hi-rail fire patrols that followed the frieghts speeders were used and i sure miss thier unique putt putt sound.

If these were N&W cars then it was probably a good grade of coal being brought in for whatever purpose. The Western Virginian and Southern Pennsylvania coal mines had super low sulfur coal and was in high demand for steel making where I worked back there in Ontario. The lower the sulfur the higher the cost of the coal. Thanks for the posts.

Posted by: Chris_C

Posted on: Nov 28th, 2017, 12:00am

This thread has been a wealth of information - any more out there? Interested in the 1989 - 1992 timeframe

Posted by: torch

Posted on: Jan 11th, 2018, 11:23pm

Back at it with more 1990 reports! Wed, October,11, 1990, Northbound freight at Langford around 11;30 am. I didn't write down the exact consist as I was more excited about the weed steaming train that was following. Anyhow the freight consist was only jotted down as "several tanks (i assume propane), a few boxcars and caboose" (and I would safely assume lead by a couple of GP38s or 35 units). I wrote down loosely about the weed steaming train after I saw it around 12 pm by thetis lake overpass... but the details are not particularly vivid. Didn't get the engine number other than remarking that it was a low nose gp9.. we've all seen the weed train consist as it has been depicted on this forum many times. The loco was in the middle of the consist while the train was being piloted in the makeshift 'control cab car in the lead (a modified cp flatcar with a small,crude quarters for engineer and conductor and of course the controls which i assume were remote. I watched and paced it on my bike from Atkins road up into Langford. It sure seemed to attract onlookers.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: Jan 11th, 2018, 11:28pm

Friday, December 7th, 1990, Morning northbound freight at Langford. Power was gp35 #5020, gp30 #5001 and gp35 #5014. I was so excited about seeing the gp30 that I didnt write down more details about the trains consist other than "a few propane tanks,insulated boxcar (cp?), an ex mnj boxcar, a gov hopper and caboose". I wrote down how I was hoping i would see the gp30 unit on the next southbound train, Sunday.

Posted by: torch

Posted on: Jan 11th, 2018, 11:36pm

Monday,December 10th, 1990 , Northbound freight at View Royal . Waited for the train near Vic Plywood mill. Train arrived around 11 am after switching Superior propane. There was twelve empty boxcars on the View Royal siding. The train spotted one of the 50 foot cp boxcars itno the millspur . I left before it finished its work there so I could catch it down by Thetis lake overpass, Atkins road. Power was gp35s numbered 5020 and 5014. Train consist was CN fifty foot plug door boxcar, fifty foot high end NW gondola, a few propane tanks, 2 government grain hoppers and caboose.. Train ran by at track speed.

Posted on: Jan 11th, 2018, 11:43pm

Posted by: torch

Posted on: Jan 11th, 2018, 11:47pm

Thursday, December 13th, 1990... 'the beginning of the end" ..... Southbound evening freight at Langford. gp35s #5014 and #5025, one gov. hopper, one propane tank, one fifty foot boxcar and NO caboose. Now replaced with a FRED. (flashing rear end device). This was the first cabooseless train I had witnessed on the E&N other than some yard limit movements by switchers.